What Ever Happened to My Mail Carrier?

Growing up in Chicago in the 1960s, we knew our mail carrier by name. As properly raised children, we called him “Mr. Ed.” During our summer vacation from school, he often let my sister and me push the mail cart down the street for him. And when we went on vacation, Ed gave our mail to John, who was my grandparent’s mail carrier, and held it for us until we returned home. (Yes, I know that sounds like something out of a Bobbsey Twins book, or for my younger readers, like a baby boomer’s imagination gone amok. Or even a lawsuit in the offing. But things were different back in the old days …)